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More than 5,000 marijuana plants eradicated

About $1.5 million of marijuana was eradicated from five grow sites found in isolated spots in San Mateo County through an annual marijuana eradication operation, San Mateo County Narcotics Task Force officials said Monday.

The sites containing a total of 5,070 marijuana plants growing in various stages were found in secluded areas in the San Francisco watershed and Skyline Ridge Open Space area, officials said.

Officials said they found camp sites and what they called sophisticated irrigation systems. At two of the sites, officials found sleeping bags, hammocks and food. At another area a loaded .22 caliber rifle was found, officials said.

The annual operation was a multi-agency effort that included the California Department of Justice, San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and San Francisco Water Department.

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Posted by R Crumb
a resident of Menlo Park: The Willows
on Oct 4, 2011 at 2:45 pm

Posted by Moderate
a resident of Woodside: other
on Oct 5, 2011 at 12:58 pm

Friends in the DEA, and in the Ca Water Dept, tell me that illegal pot growers are the worst water polluters in the state. Tons of fertilizers and pesticides applied, then enter the groundwater. No fines, no regulation, no control. For the common good, if the pot growers were regulated, they could be controlled.

For the record, I haven't smoked/eaten pot since 1971. I don't want their output/product, just want them to stop polluting the resources the rest of us live with.

The analogy between the well documented Ken Burns documentary on Prohibition and its effects on corrupting government as well as enriching a newly expanded criminal class to that of the "war on drugs" is most apt. The war on drugs has given rise to a huge and deadly criminal class in central and south America, as well as its minions in the US. Marijuana eradication is about as effective as destroying liquor during prohibition - NOT AT ALL. Failure to legalized marijuana is an exact equivalent of keeping the Volsted Act, and its effects are about the same. The major difference is perhaps the incredible load that drug possession place on the judicial and prison system and the cost to taxpayers.
Those who object to legalization can be compared to the drys of the 1920s, the law enforcement members who make a living of pursuing violators and dealers, and the prison guard's union which is able to increase its membership. The question how many in government benefit from the drug laws is open to question.

Posted by R.Gordon
a resident of another community
on Oct 7, 2011 at 8:47 am

CORRUPTION in SAN MATEO COUNTY among the citizenry is FAR more harmful to our locals than marijuana or GREED.
I am pleased that ONE person, Gunther Steinberg, reacts with the common sense that is missing by MOST of the former affluent do gooders of this area. Like the people who wanted to make Steve Jobs life miserable by suing him to prevent him from building his house in which to die all because of self-aggrandisment. That "historical" house was JUNK.
You crime busters ought to be glad just knowing that people here still know how to plant things that grow and you may be needing them for Victory Gardens you had in WWII.Are there any people who aren't old farts or foggies who write in here who speak of MEDS?
Luckily, you are in your final stages of misery of living, and will find purity in the Gardens of Eden....Just legalize it and give all the college graduates something to do when they can't get a job.

Posted by R.Gordon
a resident of another community
on Oct 9, 2011 at 10:04 am

Mr. Slide................The Hippies are all around you, only in disguise and aging in suits of better taste since they were probably made by Washington Tremlett on Savile Row in London....they were "hipper" than the locals who have 50 year old waistcoats from Brooks Bros.
Like Jerry Rubin (RIP) he became a businessman (stockbroker, I believe) and was an advocate and investor for health food products and like his friend Abbie Hoffman, who co-founded the group from which the word "Hippy"originally came.
Like my prognostication that HSR is coming down the tracks, so marijuana is about to be legalized in order to put Americans to work and with a smile on their faces.
As for "Moderate's" entry about pollution, that is TOTALLY absurd. The plant has NO record of being a polluter the way he expresses, and with govt. controls it would just be as clean as SOYLENT GREEN.
"PROHIBITION WORKS?"'s entry is logical, real, and not like all the panic queens who sit in the chairs of local and federal govt.
I never liked pot because it just made me hungry.The cookies are a different story. I think they should be served at all the up tight meetings of our county meetings and explode the botox in the faces of the frowning officials.
Marijuana has been reported as possibly the largest cash crop in America if legalized and yes, crime would disappear...The same should be said for the DEA (another subject)